Our Battle Begins Now
by HeckingObjection
Summary: After the events of the most nail-biting case Phoenix Wright has dealt with so far, he has a feast with some of his friends. Miles Edgeworth though, has to attend other things. He meets up with Franziska von Karma at international departures to say a few things before she leaves the country. (Based off the ending to Phoenix Wright: Justice for All)


March 23rd, 2018.

This day marked the end of a very long journey. A kidnapping for ransom, a guilty client, and a moment of defense and prosecution alike working together for justice and rightfulness. A very rare moment indeed, as anyone who witnessed this moment would say. For mostly everyone, this day would lead to a happy ending, a feast of the greatest dining possible and celebration between people who could have known each other for years for how well they knew one another.

While despite the astonishing trial ending with a guilty verdict, the spiny-haired man in the blue suit felt as if this was his greatest victory yet. While it may seem so now, this tale is not as much focused on the spiny-haired man, but rather his opponent in this case, a slender man who stood behind the prosecutor's bench in the recently decided nail-biting case. His name is Miles Edgeworth, and he had something important in order for the end of this day. Albeit a very tiring and stressful day, Edgeworth felt that a visit to a familiar face to him.

The spiny-haired lawyer had given Edgeworth a belonging of someone as a token of thanks for helping him put the recent case to an end and giving everyone the happy ending they dearly longed for. Although being handed the gift, he knew that someone else deserved this more than he did. After all, the lawyer said that it was thanks to him and "her" that the miracle everyone wanted became a reality. Edgeworth knew who this other person was, and had a peculiar way of knowing how to give this commemoration of a miracle to her.

 **March 23, 9:42 PM**

 **International Departures**

 **Gate 12**

The gate at the international departures was almost empty. It felt cold and bitter, almost like the person who he was to meet before she would come to realize what he would do. The only people inside the room were the woman, looking out the large, glass window toward the grounded airplane with a determined look on her face, and Edgeworth, by the door of the room, almost with the same expression has her. He took a few steps into the room and walked toward the lone woman. Edgeworth was almost depressed to see her where she is now, but he held strong. He knew what he must do here. He came all this way, so there was no use in going back now.

"Where are you going… Franziska?"

The woman looked over her shoulder to see the slender man in a red suit speaking to her. Franziska von Karma was her name. She had a bag of luggage with her and was getting ready to depart into one of the giant machines to return to her home. Her feelings seemed to change once she got a glance of Edgeworth. Her expression… it grew a mix of anger and surprise at the sight of him. She wished to be alone and didn't feel the need of seeing anyone again before she left. But Edgeworth came all this way to see her.

"How…?" she said between her clenched teeth. "How did you know I was here…?" Franziska seemed to be frustrated with his appearance. She didn't know what to make of Edgeworth's arrival. She could only question why he was here. She was going to finally be done with seeing any of the people she met in this country, but Edgeworth came.

Edgeworth put his hand in the pocket of his dress pants and pulled out a small, remote-like object. He held it out toward Franziska as it made a small beeping noise after it was taken out of the enclosed pocket. The little radar on it revealed a green dot. Where Franziska was standing. "Apparently," he spoke, "you seem to have put that tracking device in that detective's jacket. You brought those crucial pieces of evidence to the courtroom inside that, so I could only suspect that you still had the jacket."

Franziska's clenched-toothed expression turned into a sigh, then to a small smile. Not much of a happy-to-see-you smile, but more of a snarky smile. She crossed her arms like she knew this was going to happen, like she had a master plan set up for this whole encounter. "Hmph," she puffed. "I knew you'd say something smart like that." She then reached to her luggage case and pulled the zipper up and around its side. She then proceeded to pull out a green, large, wrinkly, balled-up jacket. "That scruffy detective's jacket. This old and drab… thing. That tracking device was only there because he was always wearing it. I have no clue how this ended up in my luggage. But this is definitely going in the trash or out the plane's window, whichever I see first. I can assure you that now."

Edgeworth stroked his chin and looked at the woman in front of him with intrigue at her statement. "Speaking of that detective," Edgeworth spoke softly, "I remember being told something from him that may strike you as intriguing. He said something about the evidence inside that jacket. You remember, don't you?"

Franziska scoffed at Edgeworth. "It's foolish of you to think that I forgot the evidence only a few hours after the case's end, Miles Edgeworth. I was the one who brought that detective's jacket into the courtroom. Is your memory failing you? You probably would have lost the case if I hadn't come to the rescue."

Edgeworth did not change his expression at the remark. He was a statue, completely still. His eyes stared right into Franziska's. "He said something about when he left Mr. De Killer's hideout. He looked at me right in the eyes and told me that he took another piece of evidence with him."

Franziska's eyes widened a little. "You mean that there were four pieces inside this jacket?" She showed Edgeworth the jacket and shook it in front of him. Edgeworth didn't say a word, he only nodded. "I shouldn't even bother seeing what that piece was. The case is over now. It does not matter anymore. I should throw it away with the jacket as well."

Edgeworth looked into his shirt pocket again for a few seconds, thinking that he'd have to keep waiting for the perfect time to reveal its belongings. He then looked back up to Franziska's face. "Very well then," he spoke, "I can't stop you from doing that." He then stood in silence for a few seconds, and so did Franziska. They only glanced at each other for a few seconds, unmoved before Edgeworth spoke again. "Franziska… what are you going to do now?"

She crossed her arms and gave Edgeworth a mean look. "Like it would matter to you. It's none of your business to know." Her cold, hard stare was intense enough to bring chills down anyone's back. But not Edgeworth's. He stood firm. He still had another thing to ask of the perfectionist.

"...You're not running away, are you?"

"Shut up!" Franziska demanded as she stomped closer toward Edgeworth. "Just shut up! Do you really think you're understanding any little thing about me?! You're not, Miles Edgeworth! You have no idea what it means to be Manfred von Karma's daughter!" She was so bent up on anger toward Edgeworth, she could have punched him. Her cold glare turned into a fiery death stare that went straight into Edgeworth's calm composure.

Edgeworth felt almost betrayed by those words. Any normal person would have given up on trying to reason with Franziska once she started to act like this. But he still had to address something toward her. He wouldn't leave until his point could be given and understood by her. "Franziska," he started, "you…"

But she wouldn't let him finish. "You don't understand!" More emotion was starting to be heard from her voice as she spoke. "As a von Karma, there are so many expectations from literally everyone around me. Everyone! And I'm expected to fulfill every single one of them! I'm expected to stay strong, I'm expected to never back down, and I'm expected to have success with every challenge I take. And failure? They treat that word like a poison. Nothing else is expected out of me other than success!"

"Franziska…"

"Let me finish, please!" She almost started to look desperate as she spoke. A crack or two even came from her voice every few seconds. "...My father… he was a genius. But you knew that already. He knew how to do everything and he expected the same out of me… But he didn't get his wish. I'm no genius, Miles Edgeworth. I always knew that…" She almost looked like she was about to break down in front of Edgeworth. "But I had to be one. There's no changing that. I had to."

Edgeworth was moved by these words. He was understanding the struggles that Franziska had to go through in her whole life. And now, with her leaving, he was starting to think that she was trying to get away from her old life and trying to start a new one. He couldn't blame her for thinking that, but something just didn't feel right with him. He could just be done with everything and leave now, but Edgeworth knew that that would be the wrong thing to do. He felt as if she needed help from him. Almost like a lost puppy laying out in the rain in the busy city streets, waiting for its owner to return.

"Franziska," Edgeworth spoke with pity for her as he put his hand on her shoulder, "you may not be a genius like your father was, but you are a prosecutor. You are and always will be, no matter how bad you think things will get.

Franziska grabbed his hand and threw it off her shoulder. "How long does it take for you to understand?" She asked him sternly. "I'm not… I'm not a prosecutor anymore, Miles Edgeworth. I even threw my whip away back at the courthouse." She then turned her back toward him and crossed her arms.

Edgeworth looked into one of his pockets, then back toward Franziska. "Speaking of that… Mr. Wright gave me something to hold onto." Edgeworth reached into his pocket and pulled out the long, brown whip Franziska had mentioned. "I think you should keep this." Franziska looked back at Edgeworth and saw the whip he was holding. Her eyes widened a bit, but they didn't stay that way for a while. She swiped the whip out of his hands and went back to turning away from him. "Franziska, we prosecutors don't and shouldn't fight for personal honor or pride. I hope you dwell on that statement… and on what you choose to strike down with that whip."

Franziska clutched the whip toward her chest. If she wanted to, she could have smacked Edgeworth with the whip right then and there. Instead, she finally turned around toward him and spoke. "You… you haven't changed a bit, Miles. You've always left me for dead. You left me on my own. You just walked on ahead and never looked back to think about me. I've always hated you." Miles looked over to the side. Those words hurt him a little bit, but he maintained his stature.

"And after all that time," she kept speaking, "you thought my revenge was supposed to be against Mr. Phoenix Wright for giving my father his first loss in a case in forty years. You're more clueless than I thought, now that you make me remember all this. After all that time of you leaving me behind, I was supposed to take revenge on none other than you. If I could defeat the man you could never win against in court, then I would've been the one leaving you in the dust to rot. I would've surpassed higher than you. That was supposed to be my revenge, Miles Edgeworth."

All Edgeworth could do is say "I see" and look back at Franziska.

Franziska looked at her baggage next to her. She then looked back at Edgeworth, then to the baggage. "I… I just can't do it. I can't change the person I was before. I can't just pretend that everything before now didn't happen forever. That would be impossible…"

Edgeworth looked at Franziska. This was the most vulnerable and saddened Franziska he had ever seen. He knew her as the perfectionist prosecutor that always chased after the most perfect outcomes. He knew her as someone with a stone heart that didn't pity anyone. But now, seeing her like this, it was a shock. Nothing had prepared or even told Miles that Franziska would act like this at any point in her entire life.

"I believe," Edgeworth said, "you can change who you are. Even if you don't think you can, I know you can." Franziska scoffed at Edgeworth's claim, but he still had something to say and he was going to finish it. "During today's trial," he continued, "you were going to use that manager, weren't you? But you were 'dependent' on Mr. von Karma's, your father's, tactics. Is that correct?" Franziska knew that this was correct, but she just grumbled to herself at the remark. "Today, you chased after me. You chased me after so many years. I left you behind for so long. And that's why we're here today."

Franziska gasped out of sudden realization. The man she had chased after for so many years had finally met up with her. It was a very moving moment for her, but Miles was still not finished. "But I do not have any thought in my mind that tells me I should stop running. If you are saying here and now that you're done chasing after me, then I don't have any other way of saying it. I guess this is where we part ways, Franziska."

And then, at that moment, the last thing Edgeworth expected to happen in this conversation actually happened, Franziska's lip started to quiver as she held her newly retrieved whip out in front of her with both hands. Her eyes started to water and her nose started to sniffle. Franziska was crying. This was definitely not the end, so all it could be for her was the start of a new chapter in her story. And with that, she only had one thing left to say.

"I… I… I am Franziska von Karma. Don't think I am going to walk in your shadow forever… Our battle.. begins now… so you had better prepare yourself, Miles Edgeworth!"

And with that, she left the room, to the plane where she was to leave her past life behind. She was going to change, and she knew that. It wasn't a bad thing at all, it was actually the best thing that could happen at that moment. Because at that moment, her time ahead wouldn't be dark and gloomy, but rather joyful. The page would turn and a new chapter of the story would begin.


End file.
